The Hybrid
by SmashingPandas
Summary: Cynthia Hatcher is one of the few surviving humans left in this post-apocolyptic world after the worst epidemic in human history breaks out. She must be able to trust whomever she finds left alive to survive, but can she trust the dead? Rated T for language, gore, and romantic-ness throughout the story :) I DO NOT own any characters/ideas from the works Warm Bodies (Julie, R, etc)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_**Day 346; Entry 290; September 26, 2046**_

_ Another day alone for me. But what else is new? As the shunning continues, the plague spreads and infects more and more people; people who never deserved to be changed like that. I guess, in some cases, it would be better for a few of them: sick children living in Russian orphanages, cancer victims, veterans suffering from PTSD..._

_ What am I writing here? NO ONE deserves this, not even the sickest person in any prison._

_ I guess I'm jealous of the infected ones. It's sick, I know, but I wish I was just dead _at least_ by now. Being... me... isn't very entertaining. Whatever, I hope I can find a way to end it soon._

"Another journal, done." I told myself, placing the book on my desk in the corner. Who else would I tell? I'm alone out here. Well, besides the undead just walking and moaning and groaning around outside. Myself, I prefer the abandoned hurricane bunker I found. The family who owns, or should I say owed, it is now apart of the very thing I want to kill me.

You see, there was this plague that spread about two decades ago, just before the time of my birth. Now, I'm no scientist, but I know that whatever is causing this thing is making it's victims just barely functional. They have no heartbeat, but they continue to eat and attack humans like me, if I can even be considered that. That's what baffles me, though. Without a heartbeat, nothing can function, yet, they still do. It comes straight out of a horror movie, or some crazy-ass television show from like, 2010. Yeah, old, I know.

Now, to explain why I don't consider myself _truly_ a human. Before I was even a thought in my parents' minds, they were best friends. Eventually, the classic "girl-next-door" shit went down, and there's a new chick ready for a new season of _16 and Pregnant_. Then, the world crashed. Somehow, this plague started, and people were dying, and coming back as zombies all over the place. Being the responsible man my dad was, he tried to protect my mother at all costs.

When she was 3 weeks from her due date to go into labor, a group of about twenty or so zombies stormed out their town. Sadly, my mother was bitten. Then she went into labor. By the time my dad decided to do his own c-section, the blood from the Fleshie was already taking over my mom; and it was already in me. My dad had to get me safe before she could do anything, which he did. Sadly, he had to end my mother. I guess it was the best thing for him to do for all of us; neither him, nor me, was hurt, and my mom finally was able to find salvation with whoever she believed in as a higher power.

As I got older, people started to notice my situation. My father was killed by Boneys, which are things similar to the Fleshies, regular movie-like zombies. Boneys, though, are pretty much all bones, and minimal decayed muscle. Either of them have no remorse, or any thought process that I know of. Now that I was orphaned by the age of six, I stayed by myself most of my life. I was afraid to build relationships with people, fearing they'd betaken away from me, like my parents.

When I turned 15, the people in my little nomadic group shunned me. A group of Boneys found us, and killed most of us. Our numbers went from about a hundred, to less than twenty-five in fifteen minutes, never mind the bitten survivors who we had to shoot. However, I was bitten at least four times in the shoulder, chest, and stomach areas. Thing is, I didn't bleed. There were puncture wounds, showing my torn up muscles and flesh, but no blood leaking out. I never turned either, the wounds just scarred and stayed on me as a permanent reminder of why I've grown to hate the human race, along with the undead. My former "neighbors" thought I was some cursed little girl who was sent to destroy everyone. Note, my old town was overly religious and saw the plague as God's judgement, I guess.

From my 20 years of life in this miserable place, I've learned two things: Never go outside without a source of protection, and _I _can't trust any living, or moving thing. My name is Cynthia Hatcher, and no one trusts me in this post-apocalyptic world.

I sat in my bunker, savoring a fresh apple I found just sitting in the yard above me. I rolled up my blue, red, and light purple plaid shirt sleeves, and went to work. I grabbed my pistol and a brown leather bag, threw on my boots, and a denim jacket. I slowly opened the bunker doors and climbed to the outside world.

"Good, they're gone." I said to myself. I ventured out into the center of this abandoned town, smearing the black blood of shot down Fleshies and Boneys all over my face and arms.

Once I got into the center of Ashwick, Louisiana, I watched the undead stumble around. Most of them looked to be in their thirties, but a few looked to be in their later teens, early twenties.

I slowly walked, and occasionally stumbled, across the center of town into a warehouse that stored canned goods and packaged food for the needy. I pried open a crate of little wrapped sponge cakes, and stuffed as many cakes into my bag that would fill it halfway.

"Okay, not too heavy." I muttered, not wanting to be heard. I went to go find a crate full of water bottles, when I suddenly felt a searing, burning pain in my side. "Dammit!" I yelled as I pressed my pistol against the skull of a Boney and pulled the trigger. The blow shot the skeleton a good three yards, along with pulling its finger-claw-things out of my ribcage. I threw my bag over my shoulder and ran out as fast as I could. The Fleshies started to notice, and tried to mob me; but most of them just walked towards me in a mass of dead walking bodies.

I found myself, somehow, cornered between two short and broken cement walls in a parking garage, about sixty feet above the paved road, on the top floor. There were cars still parked, waiting to be driven again. Some older than others, and other looked like a new model, but were rusting away into their own kind of grave.

I felt the breeze push my dirty-blonde hair off my shoulders, and towards the edge. I looked down, and saw more masses of Fleshies waiting for me to jump.

So I did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I forgot a little "AUthor's Note" in the last chapter. Well, this is my first story :P I want to thank He4artBreaker101 and Watcher of the Moon for my first favorite and following! That means a lot to me, this being my first story here AND within hours of posting it. Don't be afraid to review these first two chapters so I know how to improve :)**

**I'll do my best to impress you guys! 3**

**Enjoy ~ Nicole**

**Chapter 2**

The feeling of the air rushing through my hair was amazing, the peace of the fall was like that of pure serenity. I felt as though I would die happily.

Until something broke my fall. I crashed through a crate full of those stupid sponge cakes.

"What the hell?" I asked myself, "How did this thing get here?" I'd probably answer myself, but I remembered about the undead army trying to eat my skin off. I climbed out of the crate, thoroughly cutting up my jeans and legs, and ran as fast as I could, back to that bunker.

When I returned to my safe haven, I found the doors had been busted open. This meant one of two different things to me: an intelligent Fleshie or Boney, or a person was ransacking my home. I crept inside, and hid behind the stair railing to see who was in my house.

The man looked to be about my age, no more than a year older, who was about six feet tall, give or take a few inches. He work a black and gray stripped hoodie with black, tattered jeans. His hair matched his clothes, black and messy. It was long, reaching a bit past the bottom of his neck. He turned slightly, looking for any sign of life, or food. His face looked kind, but the scar going across his right cheek and down his chin didn't. It looked as though he got scratched by a Boney, and it didn't heal right.

I slowly climbed down the rest of the stairs, taking out my pistol.

"I can hear you," the man said, still rifling through my stuff. I ran over and put the gun to his head, "Scary."

"You'd best not be a smart-ass." I said, "Why are you here?"

"You left the doors open, so I thought it was a free place," he said, flipping through my journal. I snatched the book away from him.

"What the hell, man?" I yelled at him, "How would your wife react if you went looking through her drawers like that?"

"I don't think she'd mind. All she does is stumble around, dead," he said. My body stiffened coming to find out that his wife was taken away from him by the plague.

"Oh, geez, guy. I'm sorry, I didn't know," I said, lowering my gun.

"Don't be," he said, "I don't think anyone could've prevented it." The man turned towards me, and I saw the rest of his face. He had dark brown eyes, and olive-tan skin. "At least she was put out of her pain."

"What do you mean?"

"Right before she was infected, she was suffering from Malaria. Her name was Mariah, ironically. Two similar names, one sends the other into a spiraling pain." I started to feel funny about this guy. Why was he being so open with someone who just had a gun to his head?

"Why are you so open?" I asked.

"Because I have a bigger gun," the man said. Suddenly, I found a larger pistol, held sideways, being pointed at my forehead. "Now, gimme yours and the bag and we'll talk." I handed over my gun, but kept my bag. "Gimme the bag."

"Why?"

"Cuz I know what's in it," he said, making the "give me" motion with his fingers.

"No thanks, guy. Not happening." I said. "I knew all that Mariah stuff was bullshit." The man cocked the gun back, ready to shoot.

The two of us jumped, due to a heavy bang on the metal doors. We turned to the hideous sight of Fleshies walking down the stairs, and towards us. The man shot several of them in the head, and threw one against the cement floor.

"Go!" He yelled. I ripped my gun out of his head and started shooting until I made a pathway out. I quickly threw my journal and a pen into my bag and ran out, not worrying about that man in the slightest.

I quickly heard a second pair of feet, catching up to me. I looked back and saw the man, running after me.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed at him, trying to speed up. He must've ran track in high school or something, because he passed me out in a matter of fifteen-seconds flat.

I found a fire escape ladder, barely attached to the building, but hell, it was my only chance. I climbed the rusted ladder, it creaking and gliding left and right with each movement that I made. The ladder brought me to the seventh floor of what looked like an old apartment building. I squeezed inside through the hole in the screen window, and sat close to the wall, clutching my handgun to my chest.

"H-Hello?" I heard a small voice say. I hand my gun ready, but I already knew I wouldn't need it. "Who's there?" A small, ginger-headed girl walked out from under a torn up couch. She was wearing a blue night gown, like that of a five year old. It had a cartoon cat on it with pink hearts. The little girl was clutching a brown teddy bear like there was no tomorrow. In retrospect, there really wasn't for someone like her.

"Shh shh shh, it's okay, sweetie," I cooed, "I'm not going to hurt you." I put my pistol away, and sat like a little child would: Criss-cross-applesauce.

The little girl walked a few steps closer, and I tries to smile as sweetly as I could at her. Then, I heard a gurgling noise coming from her stomach.

"Sweetie, you're hungry." I pulled out one of the cakes from my bag, and held it out for her to take. She reluctantly sat in front of me, and took the cake. She broke it in half, putting one piece in her mouth and the other in the arms of her stuffed bear. I couldn't help but smile. "What's your name, honey?"

"... Lori," the little girl said.

"That's a beautiful name, Ms. Lori." I smiled at her, "What's your friend's name here?"

"Mr. Peppers, miss. This is Mr. Peppers," Lori showed me the bear, and put him in my lap. I saw that he had black zig-zags going across his left eye, where a button was missing.

"What happened to his eye, Lori?"

"The dead people took it, but I fixed him." My stomach churned. This poor little girl had already been exposed to the cruel world around her.

"How old are you, honey?" Lori held up four fingers. "You're four?"

"Mhmm," she nodded, "how old are you, miss?"

"I'm twenty, Lori. You can call me Cynthia, if you'd like to."

"Twenty?" I nodded. "Two tens, right, Cynthia?" I chuckled and nodded.

"That's right. When was the last time you had anything to eat or drink?"

"Last week, I think. I don't remember. Ryder hasn't come back yet."

"Who's Ryder?" I was worried she thought one of the Fleshies was Ryder, or whoever Ryder was may be dead by now.

"My brother, he's a big person like you too."

"There's others here? How many?"

"Just me and Ryder, I think. He's two tens and one one." So there was a twenty-one year-old running around somewhere, or dead.

"What does Ryder look like?" I asked Lori.

"He's really tall and big. We don't look the same, though. I look like my momma, and Ryder looks like daddy most."

"Do you know if he's near by?" Lori shrugged. Then, I heard a door slam. Instinctively, I grabbed Lori and Mr. Peppers, holding them close to me, and huddled into the corner closest to an exit. I looked at Lori, and she was easily scared. She had her bear clutched against her chest, ears in her eyes. I stroked her hair, trying to calm her down.

I heard heavy footsteps, and panting, like whoever was in the apartment building just finished running. I heard another door open, and the mystery person start jogging up the stairs. Being on the seventh floor, we had to endure three brutal minutes of waiting and heavy footsteps before a figure opened the door to the room we were cowering in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Ryder!" Lori jumped up when the door opened, and ran over to the figure.

"Lori!" I started to run after her, but the figure picked her up, and hugged her, laughing. The figure walked into the room, staring down at me.

"Why are you following me," the man from before asked me.

"Why were you in my house before?" I asked, irritated.

"You went into Cynthia's house? Without asking?" Lori asked her brother. She poked his nose, "You know that's bad, Ryder."

"I was looking for food, sweetie." Ryder said.

"Cynthia gave me and Mr. Peppers cake! You really missed out, it tasted amazing!" I giggled, and Ryder chuckled.

"Looks like I _did _miss out, huh?" Ryder said. Lori nodded, and squirmed out of his grip, and hugged my leg.

"Can she stay, brother? Please? She's really nice and pretty and you two could get married and I could be the flower girl and- Oh! Mr. Peppers could be the ring bearer! Get it? _Bear-er_? Cuz he's a bear and-"

"Wooaahh, hold on there, kid," I cut her off. "I don't really have the best relationship with your brother right now, and there's no way I'd ever marry him. I don't think he even likes me much, either. Ya know, he tried to steal-"

"You can stay, girlie." Ryder said. My mouth dropped a little.

"Me? Stay? You tried to kill me!" Lori looked straight up at me, tears in her eyes.

"He what?" She looked at Ryder, and gave him a dirty look while tightening her grip on my leg. "Why would you want to hurt Cynthia?" Ryder knelt down to Lori, and stroked her strawberry-ginger hair.

"I never meant to hurt her, honey. Did you know that when a boy is mean to a girl it means that he likes her?" Ryder shot a look up at me saying 'Just go with it.' Lori shook her head. "Well, I didn't really want to hurt Cynthia. I just like her; and if she wants, she can stay with us, okay?"

"Really?" Lori's face lit up like the night sky on the fourth of July. Ryder nodded, and looked up at me. I looked at him, then down at Lori, and sighed.

"I guess I could stay for a few days." I said.

"Yay!" Lori exclaimed. She jumped up and down, holding her bear. Then, she held my hand and said, "You can be my new sister if you wanna, Cynthia." Tears came to my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away, and faked a yawn.

"I'd love that, sweetie." I said, smiling. Lori smiled probably the biggest she could, and hugged my leg again, but tighter. I heard Ryder sigh, and I shot him a quick glare.

It wasn't more than three hours until Lori fell asleep on the couch, her head on Ryder's lap. I was sitting on the opposite side of the couch, looking down with my hands in my lap. We sat there for what seemed like hours, but was really only about eight minutes.

"... You don't know how much Lori has already attached to you. I mean, it took her months to adjust to living with me by ourselves; and seeing she made you her sister in a matter of minutes is a huge slap to the face." I glared at Ryder

"Its not like I _wanted _this. I just said I'd stay so I wouldn't break her heart."

"Please, I saw you tear up. I'm not stupid, Cynthia." My face flushed, and Ryder chuckled. "Saw that, too."

"Oh please, how do I know you're not shitting me? With all of this 'you should be honored' crap?"

"Because it's true. When our mom and dad left to find this huge refuge, Lori didn't trust me because I was so much older. She kept telling me that I was too big to understand her. But, after a few weeks, she got used to me. Now, we're best friends." The corner of my heart was being tugged by his story. I couldn't say that his parents abandoned them, but they _did _leave.

"How long ago did they leave?"

"About six months ago, two months before Lori's fifth birthday."

"She didn't get why they left, did she?" I scooted a bit closer to him, but still far enough away to not disturb Lori.

"Not at first, she was convinced that they didn't love us anymore. After a few days, she understood well enough." Ryder picked Lori up, and brought her into a separate room.

I followed him, and stood at the door frame. The room had pink paint that was chipping on every side. There was a chest with about six drawers, and had a large mirror balancing in the top. It was made of a smooth, dark wood, mahogany or spruce, maybe.

What I assumed to be Lori's bed was a twin-sized mattress on a wooden frame. The sheets were white, but tinted yellow from how old they were, along with who-knows-what has used that bed in the past. The sheets had little crescent moons, stars, and suns with smilie faces on them. There was a single sheet with a blue quilt that stretched the length of the bed. It had little doves, mice, rabbits, and other cute, innocent animals on it.

I crossed my arms, and watched as Ryder tucked Lori in and kissed her goodnight while tucking Mr. Peppers in between her crossed arms. I smiled at the sight of a small child being able to sleep soundly, especially with the world slowly ending.

"You're a good brother, Ryder," I whispered as he walked past me, keeping the door open.

"I have to be, for Lori's sake. I mean, if I even had the choice to be a little dick to her, I wouldn't, even if it was for food or something. I ration it between us: 90-10."

"Well, I hope thats true."

"Why can't you trust me for once? What purpose would I have for lying?" Ryder snapped at me.

"Because you lied about having a wife who died, you lied about why you were in my home, you lied about not hating me-"

"That wasn't a lie."

"Whatever. Where's the bathroom in this place?" Ryder pointed to the door across from Lori's room.

I walked in, and slowly closed the door so I wouldn't wake her. I sat on the sink's edge, listening to my surroundings: the creaks of floorboards, my pistol clanking against the porcelain sink, the continuous moaning of the undead right outside the door. Home sweet home, isn't it?

I turned to find a mirror, smeared with dirt and grime from the passing years. I focused on the girl I saw in my reflection. I saw a girl with blonde-brown hair, all tangled and messy from running away. Her once piercing hazel eyes with crystal-blue flecks were now toned down, and bloodshot from the sleepless nights. Her once beautiful medium complexion and smooth skin was now covered with dirt. I pulled up my shirt and looked at the scars; the scars that damned me to a life of exile, and maybe eternity.

This girl wasn't me. She was the product of this impending doom of a plague. The Cynthia _I _remember was a sweet, young, and innocent girl who couldn't hurt a fly. She couldn't hurt anyone, living or dead. She had a bright future ahead of her that consisted of meeting the perfect man, going to college to earn a PHD in child development, and settling down with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl.

"That _was _me," I murmured. "That could've been me!" I slammed hard on the mirror with my fist, shattering it and cutting up my hand in the process. "Shit," I said, scrambling for a towel to stop the bleeding. The door cracked open, and Ryder was standing outside, looking down.

"Uh, you okay? I heard a smash."

"Yeah, I just earned myself seven years of bad luck, though." Ryder looked up at me and saw the bloody towel covering my hand. He rushed over, trying to look at what I did to myself. "Excuse me?"

"What," he asked, ripping the towel off my hand. "Damn, Cynthia. There's glass lodged in your hand." Ryder said, picking bits and pieces of glass out of my hand, and into the towel.

"I'm fine, Ryder."

"Obviously not. Stay here, I'll see what we have to help that heal," he walked out of the bathroom, and I just sat on the counter top next to the sink.

After what seemed like forever, Ryder had found some old bandages and gauzes, an old pair of tweezers, and a cap full left of peroxide. He picked out any visible pieces of glass, he put the peroxide on my hand to clean it out, and bandaged it up; it took at least an hour to get all that done, along with putting everything back in order and cleaning up the shards of glass. So now I was a five foot 6 inch blonde with a white glove and a gun; how threatening.

It was about eleven at night at this point, and fighting off sleep was a lot harder after doing it for days on end. I yawned about every three or four minutes, and kept stretching.

"Sleep, Cynthia. You need it." Ryder said.

"How do you-" I yawned, "-know that I need sleep or not?"

"You just yawned. Plus, those wrinkles just don't pop up randomly," he said, pointing at my eyes.

"What wrinkles?" I ran over to the sink and looked in the remaining water's reflection. I heard Ryder chuckling from the other room. I walked back over and slapped the back of his head. "Not funny."

"Calm down and sleep, kid." Ryder told me.

"I am not a kid."

"I'm older, so respect your elders, girlie," Ryder said, poking my nose. I sneered at him, and sat on the couch. I closed my eyes and yawned again. When they opened, I found a blanket being put over me, and a small couch pillow being placed at my side.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Take the couch, I'll stay up and watch the house," he said.

"You sure?" I asked. I was used to fighting off sleepiness, so I found it hard to accept him doing the watching.

"Yeah, just go to sleep," he said, stepping outside onto the fire escape platform. "Scream if you're being eaten." Ryder started climbing the ladder, up to the roof.

"Like it'll hurt me," I muttered under my breath. I rested the pillow against the arm of the couch, and curled up with the blanket tucked around me. I shut my eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly. Maybe hanging around here wasn't such a bad idea.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

My eyes slowly opened, only to find that it was still dark outside. I squinted at the clock to try to read it from a distance.

"3:46," the clock read. I had only gotten about an hour and a half of sleep, two hours tops. However, I felt like a spring deer: energetic, and ready for anything.

I sat up, folded the blanket covering me neatly, and put it on the couch. I peaked into Lori's room, and she was fast asleep. She must've ran a marathon in her dreams because her blankets were kicked off, and her legs were dangling off the edge. I chuckled, and knelt next to her.

"I'm so sorry you have to go through this," I whispered. "Such young innocence exposed to death itself, and beyond." I carefully put her legs back onto her bed, and re-tucked her in. I kissed her forehead, whispered good night, and went back into the living room. "I wonder if Ryder is around."

I climbed out the broken window, and started to climb the fire escape ladder. During my climb, I started to think what I was going to do after my time here expired. Was I going to find a new place near here? Go back to my old home? Or leave this area entirely? Most likely the third option; I've attached to Lori and she me. Staying here would just be torture for both of us; and _maybe_ I've attached to Ryder as well, just a little bit. I mean, he was there to house me and care for me, medically. I brought food and emotional support. It's a mutualistic relationship between the two of us.

"You gonna keep climbing?" I heard Ryder say. His head was looking down at me from the top of the building. Apparently, I stopped climbing to think about my life and what was going to happen with it.

"Uh, yeah. I guess." I started climbing again, and crawled over the top. I sat up against the wall, a good three meters away from Ryder. He was casually sitting up against a transformer, one knee brought up to his chest. He occasionally twisted his head back and forth to crack his neck.

"How come you woke up so early?" Ryder asked me, somewhat concerned. "Nightmare, or something?"

"Nah, I just don't sleep much anymore. I'm used to two or three hours of sleep a night by now." He nodded, and looked out towards the city. "It's quiet tonight."

"Yeah, too quiet. It's kinda eerie if you ask me, like they're waiting for something to happen." I nodded. The Fleshies _and_ the Boneys were all hiding. They weren't out stumbling along, moaning and such. It's like they just poofed away into some abyss.

I started to think about the undead, and what I would do after I left.

_I could find a shack in the country, or move along to the Northeast. I remember hearing about this huge city-refuge place for humans. I think it was called the Dome, or something. That would keep me safe for a while, until they find the scars-_

"You okay, Cynthia?" I snapped out of my daze, and found myself holding my stomach, crouched over. "Have a stomach ache, or something?"

"Um, no, I'm fine." Should I tell him?

_About how you lied to them about being a safe person? Or about how you're part zombie?_

My eyes started stinging when I realized that there is no good ending to what I tell them. Either I lie and make everything worse, or I tell the truth about what I am and get attacked for it. I wiped my eyes, trying to disguise it as sleepiness.

"Umm... Ryder?" _Here goes nothing, _I told myself.

"Yeah?" His dark brown eyes focused on me, his lips forming half a smile. The scar on his cheek curved around his grin, which made me sick to my stomach knowing I was related to what did that to him.

"I kinda have something to admit."

"Lemme guess, you're pregnant," he said, chuckling.

"I wish." I accidentally said out loud. My face flushed. "Uhh, I guess you can say I'm... different... from you and Lori."

"Well, yeah. Everyone's different."

"I mean, biologically." Ryder tilted his head to the left, showing more of his scar. I examined it from a distance, and it looked like it stretched to his temple and past his ear instead of starting at his cheek.

"Explain," he said, repositioning himself. He put his leg down, and crossed his arms with a double barrel shotgun at his side, leaning against the transformer behind him.

"Umm... why don't I just show you," I muttered. I took a deep breath in, and showed Ryder the bite marks on my shoulders. Then, I showed the many more on my stomach.

"What the hell.." Ryder muttered. He inched closer, staring at my markings. "Are these bites? From the Fleshies?" I nodded.

"And Boneys."

"How did you survive that," he asked, dumbfounded. I sighed, and told him the whole story from the beginning: how my parents met, how my mom got pregnant in high school, how I came into this world with the infection already coursing through my veins, and how I can survive out here without being dead.

Ryder's expression didn't change. His eyes were still narrow at me, and his smile never came back. He backed away from me, and sat against the transformer again. He was definitely trying to take it all in. Ryder was looking down, into his lap, and back out to the horizon. He looked like he did before, like he tuned out everything I just told him.

"Ryder?" I called his name, and he closed his eyes.

"Leave," he said, "now."

"W-what?" I asked, stuttering. What did he mean? He wanted me to stay for Lori no more than four hours ago.

"You heard me," he said sternly. "I don't care if you see Lori as a sister, I don't trust you around her anymore. I know that she'll be crushed, so I'll just tell her you went to go find your brother."

"But I don't have-"

"Exactly. Now get your bag and go." The stinging in my eyes got stronger, and eventually resulted in tears going down my face. I glared at Ryder, trying to contain myself, and started back down the ladder. I squirmed back into the apartment, and grabbed my bag. Before leaving for ever, I went back into Lori's room. I knelt down beside her, kissed her head, and walked back out.

".. Cynthia? Where are you going?" I heard Lori call me, half asleep; more tears welded up in my eyes. I walked back over, and stroked her hair.

"No where, sweetie. This is a dream, go back to sleep." She nodded, and cuddled back into her bed. I kissed her good night, and walked back into the living room. Ryder must've stayed on the roof because I didn't see him anywhere. I climbed back out the window, and started my descent down the ladder.

I knew Ryder hated the situation. I heard him sobbing from when I hit the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**_Day 390; Entry 301;November 9, 2046_**

_It's been about two months since I left Lori and Ryder; a very bleak, depressive, dark two months. It seems impossible to miss two people that much, but I seem to. I guess I do have some kind of heart in my chest, beating or not. I just hope they're okay. Well, "okay" right now means that they're breathing, have a beating heart, and no puncture wounds. _

_I finally got to the outskirts of the Dome I heard about. Well, outskirts means a good fifteen, twenty miles away. There's an airport in about five miles; maybe with some kind of life. Honestly, if there is no life in that airport, then I'm not totally screwed. As long as I keep my limbs intact, I can survive. Maybe I can find someway into the Dome without any thorough examination._

* * *

I scribbled out the last lie of my journal, knowing that would be impossible. If I ever wanted to get into that city, they would need an examination to prove I'm not apart if the undead. The scars would be a dead visual give away, never mind the internal stuff that I know about like no heart beat, but my blood circulates anyway.

I put my journal back into my bag, and took out the last sponge cake I had. I had only been eating one a day, just for enough energy to keep myself going.

"Bottoms up," I said, unwrapping the cake. I ate the first half, and put the rest back into my bag, and threw it over my shoulder. I felt the virtual emptiness of the bag, giving me a pain in my stomach.

I got up, and stared walking east, towards the airport. It was my best shot at finding food, water, maybe life. Or death, which ever would give me some kind of excitement that I really need. Just sitting in blank fields and abandoned cities is getting old. I swear, when I was stealing those cakes, there was more fun: running and fighting with Fleshies, Boneys, Ryder-

_Ryder. Lori. _Their faces flashed through my mind. Lori's laugh, Ryder's smile, even the stitches on Mr. Pepper's eye brought tears to my eyes. I can't believe that after years of loneliness and anger at the human race, I let my guard down enough to build a _relationship_ with someone.

Ugh. Relationship. I've always hated that word. I guess I've always hated people in that way. I've always seen relationships as things that dire more than survive. By the time my parents were ten, the divorce rate was already past 78% of all married couples.

Maybe I've just found confidence aloneness. I've never had to rely on anyone, and no one has had to rely on me; it saves you from disappointment, injury, and possibly death. You only have yourself to rely on, and to blame. It's only you to mess up, no one else can get in your way unless they wanna kill you.

* * *

By the time I actually saw the airport on the horizon, it was sunset. I had no idea what I was in for, but, at this point, I didn't care. I had about half a mile left to walk until I could walk inside. I'd stop for the night after all the walking I've done lately, but it's all flat land with no trees or shrubs or anything. If I stopped, it would be a suicide wish.

"Hopefully it's safe inside," I said to myself.

I stopped walking when I heard the soft groans of Fleshies. I cursed under my breath, squinted my eyes, and tried to see how many there were. Masses. There were _masses _of them! They ranged from small children to elderly men and women in their eighties, I think. Then, I saw a group of three or four Boneys.

I took a deep breath in, and started walking again. I heard the screech of a car, and gun shots. People! Actual people with heart beats! I jogged to the edge of the first runway, and scanned the area. I found a break between groups of Fleshies and stragglers, and dashed under a jet. I assume they couldn't sense me at first because of, well, ya know; me not having a heart beat can't possibly be a disadvantage here.

Turns out I was wrong. I saw a Fleshie, about six feet tall, staggering close to me out of the corner of my eye. He must've been my age, maybe in his thirties. I guess he just had one of those faces. He was wearing some kind of casual dress shirt, a red tie, and black slacks.

I slid down against the parked wheel of the jet, and acted dead as well as I could. I angled my eyes to look at the ground, but high enough to see his torso and hanging arms. His feet paused straight in front of me, and his torso turned slightly towards me. I held my breath, and just sat there, as dead as I could. Slowly, he turned back, and started walking forward again. I slowly sat up, and watched him. It may sound crazy, but it looks as though he's _thinking_. The way he walked just made it look like he was paying attention to some kind of thought more than to where he was walking.

_Weird_, I thought to myself. I slowly stood up, and was able to make my way into the airport. I found an open air duct that led into some kind of pharmacy. I stayed hidden behind a wall of test tubes and flasks, and watched the door. I saw the door open, and a group of ten to fifteen people filled the room. They looked to be about my age. They were led by a boy, in his early to mid twenties, who was holding hands with a blonde headed girl, about my age.

"Perry, how do you even know if this place hasn't been cleaned out yet," the blonde girl asked.

"It's all we can find, Julie. Calm down and watch out." Perry said. Another girl threw a box of some kind of medication at Perry.

"Found more Prozac if you need it," she said, sarcastically. I felt a vibration from the direction of the door. "What was that?"

"Calm down, Nora. Nothin's there," Perry said. Julie seemed like she wanted to side with Nora, but being Perry's partner or girlfriend or something, she sided with him.

Soon enough, there was a huge bang coming from outside the room, and everyone heard it that time.

"I told you I heard something," she said. Everyone stood still, hands on their own weapons.

_Bang!_

The door flew open, and Fleshies bombarded the group. Many of them panicked, and just shot off bullets at random. Perry pushed Julie back, in a way to protect her I guess, and started aiming and firing. Suddenly, the Fleshie that stared at me before jumped at Perry.

He pulled Perry out from under his legs, causing him to slam the back of Perry's head to hit the corner of a table, cracking it open. Soon enough, the Fleshie was tearing open his throat. Perry's blood and vocal cords were everywhere by now. Then, he dug his fingers into the crack in Perry's head, and exposed the brain. The Fleshie started scarfing down Perry's brain. Blood was all over his lips, and Julie was scared shitless.

She grabbed a gun, and tried to shoot off the zombies coming at her. Suddenly, the one eating Perry stopped. From what I could see, his pupils dilated, and quickly retracted. Then, he stood up, and started attacking the other zombies.

He was _protecting_ Julie.

* * *

**Author's Note: I DO NOT own R, Julie, Perry, Nora, etc. No copyright infringement intended :) And if I got some details wrong, I'm sorry. I read the book in less than 24 hours, and about a week ago, so I can't fully remember the exact ages or looks for a few characters. Plus, for those who haven't read the book but saw the trailers, I'm basing the details and looks and stuff off THE BOOK**

**P.S.:**

**Thank you for reading this far! ^-^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The one protecting Julie was a mother lion protecting it's cubs; it couldn't believe what I was seeing. Everything flashed before my eyes in seconds. Suddenly, all the fighting and blood shed stopped.

Whoever he was before he was infected, he was starting to come back, it seemed. He staggered towards Julie from the fight seen, who was sitting far away from him, against on of the counters. She pulled out a knife, and threw it right into his forehead. He stepped back a little, pulled the blade out, dropped it, and continued approaching her in a creepy, caring motion.

"Get away from me," she said. "Stay away-" Julie was interrupted by the Fleshie wiping some of _his own _blood on her cheek, and down her chest and arm. Julie's eyes widened, and her body looked numb. The zombie tried to smell her human scent, but only smelt his own, and nodded.

"Keep ... safe," he said, staggering at each word. Obviously, he didn't talk much by nature. A surviving zombie, one older looking than the protective one, walked over and snarled at Julie.

"_Eat_," he said.

"No," the protective one said. "Mine." He stood up, gripping Julie's arm, somewhat dragging her up with him.

"R... _Eat!_" The other one said. The first zombie, who I assumed was called R around here, growled at him, and kinda shoved him aside, taking Julie out of the room. The second Fleshie started to sniff the air, and groaned. I cursed to myself, knowing he could smell me. Thinking on my feet, I sneakily used R's idea, and took a handful of "blood" from a downed zombie at my side, and rubbed it all over my pants, shirt, and some on my face.

_Don't smell me, don't smell me_, I thought to myself, keeping as quiet as I could. I scanned the room quickly, for any sort of movement. I heard the other zombie leave the room, and slam the door behind him. I let out a small sigh of relief, and crawled out from my hiding spot.

"Who the hell are you?" I felt the barrel of a gun against the back of my head with hearing the question.

"I'm not one of them, I can tell you that." What am I supposed to say? _Oh, I'm human, but not human, looking for meds. _ Not too supporting on my part, isn't it?

"How do I know?" The female voice said, cocking the pistol.

"Can a zombie do this?" I asked, giving her the bird. She laughed, and I felt the pressure of the gun leave my skull.

"Nice proof," she said as I turned around. She was about an inch taller than me, maybe too. She had a cloth jacket on, covering some kind of undershirt or cami. Her hair was a brownish-red, partially due to the sunlight induced highlights and lowlights. Her complexion was fair, but it looked tanner from dirt and grime, and some zombie blood here and there. She held out an open hand to me, "I'm Nora."

"Cynthia," I replied, shaking her hand. "What were you guys doing here? Isn't there a city near by?"

"Yeah, but we need more medicine to prevent infections from the outside. The whole place is cut off from.. well, this," she said, gesturing to the world around us. Nora turned back to me, and looked me straight in the eyes. "Weird," she said. My body froze.

"Uh, yeah. Many people notice my eyes. I was born with grey eyes. It's more common in what _was _Europe, but I guess I'm weird like that," I said. _I'm better at lying than I thought_, I told myself.

"Cool," she said, nodding. "You should come back with.. well, me, I guess. You look totally beat."

"What about that girl? Julie, I think." Nora sighed.

"I dunno... Her best bet at being found is if we tell her dad." I was skeptical. What was her dad gonna do? Put out fliers? "He runs our whole civilization." Oh, he can just send out tanks and soldiers and shit.

"Right," I said. "I dunno, wouldn't I just be another mouth to feed?"

"More survivors equals more fighters, Cynthia." I could see where she was coming from, but Julie's dad was probably the only one who truly followed that. "Plus, if I'm gonna be going out to find Julie, I need some girl-power." We both chuckled. Before I agreed, visions flooded my mind. My parents being killed, living on my own, escaping Boneys and Fleshies, surviving those who had bitten me, meeting Ryder and Lori-

Dear Lord, not Ryder and Lori.

_Stop thinking about them, dammit Cynthia!_

Visions of the few days that I'd spent with them shot back into my head like bullets. My eyes flooded with tears, realizing that I couldn't follow Nora, or help find Julie, unless I wanted to be betrayed again.

"Uh, I can't." I finally muttered.

"What? Why?" Nora asked me, dumbfounded. I kicked out a window, and started climbing.

"I just can't!" I yelled, and jumped out the window. I ran out into the landing area of the airport, not caring where I was going.

I found a small drainage ditch behind the airport, and slid down the hill, going into the hole. I sat at the edge between the dead grass, and the murky, polluted run off from construction and recent rain falls. I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve, trying to forget what was, by far, the best experience of the end of the world.

I looked at my reflection in the run off, and was thoroughly disgusted with who I saw. The person I saw wasn't the good girl back home, and she wasn't the survivor in that apartment. This girl was a sheepish coward who couldn't get up and shoot those zombies, square in the head, even to save an abducted survivor; who's probably at least dead by now. I splashed the reflection away, and laid on my side, curled up.

"Should I do it?" I murmured to myself. I pulled my pistol out of it's holster, and took a long look at the barrel. I checked the clip.

_Two bullets left_, I thought to myself. _Some lucky bastard will find me, and one extra._ I put the gun up to my forehead, said my last prayers, and closed my eyes.

"Oh, and Lord? Protect Ryder and Lori while I'm gone." My finger wrapped around the trigger, ready to pull.

"Cynthia!" A small voice echoed from across the ditch.

* * *

**Author's Note: I DO NOT own any characters from Warm Bodies, or the ideas from the book/movie (which was AMAZING! But it could've been better ^^; ) I only own the characters and ideas that I created (Cynthia, Ryder, Lori, etc.).**

**I just saw Warm Bodies in theaters earlier at 7 today, and I LOVED it! If you haven't seen it and are interested in this story, go watch it :3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

I picked my head up, and looked across the ditch for whatever made the sound. I laid my gun at my side, but still having a firm grip on it. I couldn't see anything that would've made a noise.

"Cynthia!" The voice said again, around the same distance as it was before. Suddenly, I saw the bushes at the tree line start moving. I got up, and slowly started walking up the side, and towards the bushes.

As I got closer, I saw that there were prickers on every stem in those bushes. Whatever was in there must've been having a hard time of getting out. I started to carefully rip the bush apart, and revealed a little ginger girl, stuck in the prickers.

"Lori?" My yes started to well up again. How was this real? There's no way to rationalize a five year old girl traveling that much of a distance, and just happen to find me. I started to carefully pull her out, until I had her in my arms. "What the hell are you doing?" I muttered, my face buried in the crook of her shoulder.

"I came to find you," she said. "You said you weren't going anywhere, and were sisters. I need to keep you safe," her small, preschooler voice told me. I couldn't help but laugh a little. She still thought of me like a sister, even after I lied and left her and her brother. Speaking of...

"Where's Ryder?" I asked, putting her down, and wiping my eyes again. Her eyes started to well up. The mood of the situation quickly became more serious than I felt comfortable with. "Lori, where is he?"

"T-That's why I needed to find you. The morning after you left, I wanted to find you again. I felt like it was my fault that you left; but Ryder told me that h-he made you go. I wouldn't talk to him for like, three days.

"Anyway, he promised that we'd find you again. So we left that morning to find you. Everything was going well for the first few weeks, but..."

"But what, Lori?" I had my hands on her shoulders, kneeled down at her eyes level.

"B-B-Boneys-" That's all she could get out before breaking down. She buried her face in her hands, and dropped to her knees. I pulled her into a hug, and let her cry into my shoulder. I rubbed her back, holding in my own tears.

_This is what happens when you make relationships with people, Cynthia. You asked for this_, my head told me. I dismissed it, realizing that I needed Lori and Ryder.

"Tell the rest, sweetie. Then you can cry all you wanna, okay?" Lori nodded, and wiped her eyes.

"B-Boneys attacked us, and t-took Ryder away," she finally spit out.

"They bit him?" Lori shook her head.

"T-They took him. They didn't wanna bite him, but they scr-atched him up a lot. I was hiding in a tree h-hole. Ryder told me to run, so I ran away. I found this huge airp-port, and I saw a big person who looked like you, running away from a plane. She told me to run and find a girl she called.. umm... Norris, I think."

"Nora?" Lori nodded. Okay, so now I know that Lori is safe, Julie is safe for now, and Ryder needs my help. "I know where we can go for help, okay?"

"Ok-kay," she muttered. I put my pistol in it's holster, and picked Lori up. I started walking back to the airport, and heard something unusual.

"Springsteen?" I asked myself. I heard a muffled version of "Hungry Heart" coming from an abandoned plane. Well, not abandoned anymore. I looked over, and saw that there was a light coming from the _inside _of the plane, like someone was inside, _alive_.

"Should w-we go look? Maybe that big girl is in there." Lori said. Julie was in there, she had to be! I mean, why else would music be playing in there? Bruce Springsteen's very last concert from the dead? I think not.

I nodded, and started walking towards the plane. Most of the Fleshies staggered back inside the airport for the night, I assumed, so a careful jog was well fitted for this situation. I put Lori down at the start of the stairs, going into the cockpit of the plane. I grabbed her hand, and slowly walked up the stairs so Lori could keep up. I had a hand on my pistol, ready to use those last two bullets.

I looked at Lori, and put a finger up to my lips, telling her that we need to be quiet. She nodded, and covered her mouth with her free hand. I smiled at her, and looked back at the door. I slowly pushed it open, hopefully with no creak.

_Creeaakkk!_

Why, whenever I hope for quiet, the world never gives it to me? I'll never understand. Of course, the door gave all it was to produce the longest, loudest creak **ever** sounded in the history of doors.

I heard the vinyl record stop playing, and slow footsteps walking towards the door. I pulled out my pistol, ready to shoot. I saw the growing shadow of someone coming close to the door. I let go of Lori's hand, and jumped inside, holding my gun out for all to see.

I was greeted by a thoroughly freaked out Julie, and an emotionless R, standing behind her. Lori peeped her head in, and waved to them.

"Hi big people," she said. Lori casually walked past me, waved at Julie, and started walking towards R.

"Uh, Lori?" I tried to get her to come back, but it didn't really work. Lori was looking straight up at R.

"Those skeleton thingies took my brother. You look like a nice zombie. Can you help us?"

Julie walked up to my side.

"Is she like this with everyone," she asked me in a whisper.

"From what I've seen, yeah." I replied. I put my gun back, and watched R carefully.

"His name is Ryder, and he's about as big as you, Mr. Zombie. You haven't hurt the other girl yet, so you won't hurt Cynthia and me, right?" Lori was holding R's hand at this point.

"Rrrr..." I guess that's all R could get out to a five-year-old. I was rubbing my temple at this point with two fingers, leaning up against the wall. I saw Julie walk up to Lori.

"Sweetie, I don't think we're going to find your brother."

"They didn't bite him, though, missy," she said, a-matter-a-factly. "They just took him away. They didn't hurt him."

".. They didn't hurt him?" Julie looked at R, worried. "That shouldn't happen."

"I'm as worried as you are." I said.

"Who are you, again?" I held out an open hand to her.

"Cynthia."

"Julie," she nodded, and shook my hand. Then, she pointed towards R. "That's R." I walked over and looked at him, and he looked at me, straight in the eyes.

"D... Dead," he said. My body froze. _Shit_, I thought.

"What?" Julie and Lori said in unison.

"No... beat," R said, pointing to my chest. I sighed.

"Might as well get it off my chest, huh?" I leaned back, against one of the seats, and planned out how I was going to tell them. I finally just decided to take the direct approach, and showed them the scars. Julie was stunned, Lori was confused, and R just stared at my scars like a zombie would. "Weird, isn't it?" I covered my scars again, and crossed my arms.

"What... how..." Julie couldn't spit anything out.

"I was born immune to the virus. My mother was bitten, then-" I covered Lori's ears, "-then went into labor. My dad did a c-section, and here I am now." I took my hands off Lori's ears.

"Alive... but not," R said. I pointed, and nodded.

"Right you are, R." Lori chuckled.

"But, how come you didn't bleed out?" Julie asked. I looked around, and saw the knife Julie used on R in the airport. I took the knife, rolled up my sleeve, and put a huge slash into my arm.

"Jesus Christ!" Julie screamed. Lori just screamed a little girl screamed, and R staggered back a little.

"Watch," I said. After two minutes of silence, and no bloodshed, I spoke up. "See? No blood." I put my sleeve back, and gave Julie her knife. "I dunno why, but my blood circulates without a heart beat, and doesn't bleed when I get cut open. I don't understand why, but I'm cursed with it."

"Cursed? You're the ultimate survivor!" Julie yelled.

"I'd rather be dead than have this. If you find someway to take it from me, by all means, do it." I sat on the outside facing arm of one of the seats, crossing my arms.

"Cynthia, why didn't you go to the Dome?"

"Cuz from the look of the cement wall surrounding the place, the leader makes himself look like a real hard-ass," I said. "Lori, don't say that."

"Well, that's daddy," Julie said.

* * *

**Author's Note: I DO NOT own any copyrighted characters or ideas from the book/movie Warm Bodies. I only own the ideas and characters (Cynthia, Ryder, Lori, etc.) that I created. No copyright infringement is intended :)**

**Also, I tried to make this chapter longer than usual because the last one was kinda short ^^; Anyway, I'll do my best to put up one chapter a day, at least. If not, then I will CERTAINLY put up one a week (cuz I have that time onmy hands :P).**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the story so far! 3 ~ Nicole**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you guys," I said.

"Don't worry about it, I agree with you. Ever since mom..." Julie looked down, and crossed her arms. I saw R walk towards Julie, and he put a hand on her arm. Lori smiled.

"R likes you, Julie!" Julie's face reddened, and I covered Lori's mouth.

"Not now, sweetie," I said, chuckling nervously.

"Like... her," R said, pointing to Lori. Her smile covered her face, and she hugged R's leg.

"I like you too," she smiled up at him. Lori just kinda sat there, attached to R's leg like a money.

"Okay, R, you keep Lori company for a sec. I need to talk to Cynthia, alone." Julie said. R nodded, and stumbled off to the back of the plane, lugging Lori at his ankle. I thought I heard him laugh, but maybe it was just a weird gurgling noise that made Lori giggle; I dunno.

By the time Lori and R were behind the First Class-Coach seating dividers, Julie and I had gotten comfortable in the cockpit, sipping on some drinks R found in a mini-fridge.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"I dunno, Cynthia. I mean, I'm trying to get back home, and you're trying to find Ryder. The best _I _could do is find my way back, and tell my dad that _something _is going on that's bigger than what we initially thought."

"These corpses are changing. R is a great example for one end of the spectrum: he's learning to _care_. The Boneys, though..."

"It's like they're slowly getting their brains back," Julie took a sip out of her beer. "Like, they just want to torture now, instead of eat. I guess I can talk to my dad when I get back, but that's all I can do right now; well, if I _can _leave," Julie walked to the door between the two parts of the plane, and saw R and Lori playing. Lori was trying to teach him Patty-Cake. "He's trying to keep me safe, I think; but I need to get home before they think I'm gone."

"Obviously he likes you, like Lori was saying," I said, chuckling, and taking a sip. Julie's face flushed red. "C'mon, Julie. If he _just _wanted to keep you safe, he wouldn't have made you feel as at home as he did. Plus, his hunger probably would've taken over by now."

"Whatever," she mumbled.

Suddenly, R bursted out of the room, holding Lori like a parent would, and Lori was hyperventilating.

"Lori!" I took her and held her close to me, trying to comfort her. "What happened?"

"Boneys... coming close," R said. He pointed out one of the windows, and there they were. There was at least twenty boneys walking past every jet, climbing on them and trying to break in, looking for humans.

"Get down," Julie said in a hushed, stressed voice. I crawled in the foot space between two rows of seats, hiding Lori from the window, but letting her see Julie and R. Julie was crouched down in the foot space in the column of seats across from us with R, half crouching, half standing, behind her. I was stroking Lori's hair, telling her that they won't get us. Julie was whispering the same things.

Minutes passed, not knowing if they had gone. I slowly started to stand up and-

_Screeeecchhh!_

My body fell straight back down, stunned from the screeching of Boney claw-finger-things scratching against the side of the jet. There were pounding noises from them trying to break the 4 inch thick windows, and trying to pound in the door. Lori almost screamed, but I covered her mouth before she could give us away.

The sounds stopped as quickly as they started, and the sound of their... screaming, I guess, softened and softened until they left this part of the air field.

"They know for sure," Julie said. "They're looking for us."

"We gotta go and find Ryder, _now_," I said, sternly. I stood up, holding Lori, and started for the door of the jet. I felt R grab the back of my jacket, kinda pulling me back. I put Lori down in one of the seats, knowing what I had almost done. I almost damned a little girl to the gates of the physical Hell that is Earth from the safety of this jet.

"Cynthia-a?" Lori asked. "where are w-we going?" I knelt down so I could see eye-to-eye with her, literally.

"Sweetie," I started, "I'm going to being Ryder back. I want you to stay with Julie and R for now, okay?"

"B-But Cynthia! We're sisters! We have to-" she cut herself off from holding back tears. I pulled her into a hug, and rubbed her back.

"I promise, I'll bring Ryder back, safe and sound, okay? I want you to be safe." I looked at her, and wiped her tears. Then I looked at Julie and R.

"I won't let her leave my sight, Cynthia." Julie said. R nodded, and kinda grunted in agreement.

"Lori... safe here. Promise," R said. I nodded, and looked back at Lori.

"See? R and Julie are gonna keep you company while I'm gone. I need you to promise me that you'll stay with them at all times, okay? Even if they need to leave the airport."

"W-What about you? How will I find you ag-gain?"

"You always find me, somehow. You found me here, didn't you?" Lori nodded, and rubbed her eyes. "I'll come back with Ryder, okay? And everything will be back to normal. We'll be a family again."

"Ok-kay," Lori said, holding in the pain of me leaving her _again_.

_I thought you promised to stay with her, Cynthia. _ I shooed those thoughts away from my mind as much as I could, but they seemed to just keep coming back. _You just can't help but lie, huh? It's your guilty pleasure._

"Cynthia," Lori calling me broke me out of my private world. She was holding out her right pinkie-finger. "Pinkie promise that you'll come back."

"I promise," I wrapped my pinkie finger around hers, smiling as truthfully as I could. I kissed the top of her head, and stood up. I looked over at Julie and R. "Please, keep her safe."

"I'll treat her like my own sister," Julie said, smiling a small smile.

"Lori safe... as Julie," R said. I smiled at them, kissed Lori's head for the last time, grabbed my bag, and headed towards the door.

It seemed like forever, walking towards the door and out. Too many scenarios ran through my head about Ryder being infected, or dead, and the same thing happening to Lori and Julie. My walk across the air field felt even longer before I reached the bushes where I found Lori.

"This is it, Cynthia." I walked into the woods, hoping to find some sign in which direction I should even think about going in. There was no going back now; I was officially sucked into the hell-hole of a situation I got myself into.

Damn you, Ryder.

* * *

**Author's Note: I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING AT ALL THIS WEEK! DX School has been hammering me, but it has been cancelled tomorrow due to 15 inches to 2 feet of snow coming, starting tonight at midnight! :3 They named it Blizzard Charlotte .3.**

**Anyway, I promise I'll try my best to right more often. You know those ****_really _****slow chapters that everyone just wants to get through, but doesn't know how to start writing it? Yeah, this was one of those chapters. But I promise to write more :)**

**~ Nicole**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I had my pistol in the grasp of my right hand, armed with only two bullets, and what the gun itself could do in terms of flesh wounds, and started walking into the forest. I was just walking aimlessly in the woods, looking for any sign of Boneys, or maybe an escape Ryder. A half hour must've passed of just me, alone, in the woods, looking for an unreachable goal.

My body jolted when I heard the loud, but distant, scream of a Boney, followed my multiple ones, all in unison; like a pack of wolves, dead, rotting, human-eating super wolves with a dead sort of conscience-ness. I dove behind a boulder, holding my pistol to my chest. I heard the small, terrified screams of small animals, then silence.

_Animals? _ I thought. _They've resulted to eating animals instead of humans._

"What the hell is going on?" I asked myself out loud, half hoping for an answer. Then I got an idea. "I'm going crazy."

I got up, and started walking _towards _the screaming.

"What the hell is wrong with me? You don't go _towards_ the screams of the things that will eat you," I said to myself.

_I told you relationships are bad. _ The voice in my head said. _Look what you've gotten yourself into by attaching to that little brat and her douche brother-_

"Stop it!" I yelled, grabbing my head. I fell to my knees, cringing, and holding my head, telling my own voice to go away. "Leave me alone!" My voice cracked on the last word.

Suddenly, the moaning and screaming stopped. My head jerked up, and I heard the frantic running of animals towards me. Then, the sound of clanking of bones and rotted flesh started to get closer, and closer.

"Damn, damn, dammit!" I yelled. I pulled myself out of my grief, jumped up, and ran for my life; this time, away from the Boneys, but before I could get off of their radar, I felt sharp scratches run across my arms. One was able to grab the slack of my shirt, and pull me to the ground.

My stomach slammed hard on the dirt, and my head crashed onto a pile of concentrated gravel, face first. I tried to roll over, and blow their heads off, but one of them was pushing me down. I looked around, and saw that there must've been an excess of twenty of them, just crowding around me.

"Go ahead!" I screamed. "Eat me!" Right then, I felt jaws clamp down onto my calf. As quickly as it came, the pain left, and the Boney that bit me stood up, and kinda growled in my general direction. It must've figure out that I'm _special_.

Two of them grabbed my ankles, and started dragging me away from the direction I was running. I started screaming and cussing them out, but they didn't seem to mind, or even remotely care. I was grabbing at every tree root, every rock, and practically any kind of vine-like thing that would hold my weight to pull away from those Boneys, but they just kept dragging and pulling me along.

Not soon enough, they dragged me into a deserted town. What it used to be, I wouldn't know for sure, but what I assumed is that it was one of those small towns, no bigger than fifty miles by fifty miles square. It probably had a great school system, but a shitty budget, probably no more than 10,000 people living there. By the look of the houses, and what was left of the lawns, most of them had broken lawn gnomes, and melted pink flamingoes; so the town could've been dominated by the elderly. I saw a sign that read, "Shady Acres - Home of the West Strikers," so I assume this place used to have some sort of statewide school sports team.

The Boneys brought me into an extremely gross grocery store. The rotted fruits and vegetables told me that this place must've been over run about five or six months ago; a fairly new abandoned town. What was worse is when they brought me by the deli; Dear Lord, if I wanted to lose my sense of smell, I would've shot my nose off before. The smell of rotted meat, and the sight of Boneys eating steaks with flies and maggots made me want to just throw my stomach up. I clenched my stomach the whole rest of the way.

They dragged me into the back of the building, and threw me into what looked to be some kind of large storage center, or storm shelter. The walls must've been at last a foot thick of concrete, with no windows. The whole place was empty; no food, no water, not even rejected merchandise that no one bought. I saw a small puddle from a leaky pipe, crawled over, and looked into the reflection.

My face was covered in dirt, scratches, and stains of God knows what: mud, grass, blood, you name it. My clothes were ripped all over, and just barely usable. If it wasn't for my spandex undershirt, my whole chest and torso would be out for the world to see. I looked at where a Boney had bitten me, and I saw that it had already scabbed over.

"Great," I grumbled. My pants somewhat held together during my time being hauled across the muddy ground and concrete, just enough to keep my situation rated PG-13 for language, violence, and gore.

I dipped my hands in the small puddle, and washed my face as best as I could. When the reflection settled from it's ripples, I saw a dark figure looming over me. My body froze. I slowly stood up, staring at the reflection still. I saw an appendage reach out to touch me, and I quickly grabbed it, and pushed it up against the figure's turned around body.

"Argh! Dammit, lemme go!" A gruff voice said. I pushed whoever it was down, into the puddle, and studied it's face in the light.

He had pale-ish skin, like mine. His hair was dirty blonde, with spots of dark brown mixed in. How he wore his hair was kinda flipped up in the front. The man was wearing a black tanktop, mainly covered by a leather jacket, complemented with dark blue jeans, and a set of red sneakers that read "Converse" on the insides. HIs eyes looked menacing, as though they were looking straight into my soul, and shattering it. The colors struck me, and almost made me loose my footing.

This man's eyes were hazel. With crystal blue flecks.

* * *

**Author's Note: CLIFF HANGER! :P**

**Again, I'm SOO sorry I haven't updated as fast as you guys, and I, would've liked me to. Stuff at home, and school has prevented me from updating ^^;; And I'm sorry this one is so short, it was "one of those chapters" again (reference my previous chapters to get it :P); and I felt like I was at a good point for a cliff hanger to keep you guys in suspense :3**

**Anyway, I have tomorrow off, so hopefully I can get another chapter done.**

**I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far! :)**

**~ Nicole**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Who the hell are you?" I said, my foot against his chest. "Why did you grab me?"

"You should already know," he said. His eyes were piercing. It's like they were bullets, shooting straight into your core. "You've known me for, like, ever."

"What the fu-"

"I guess you don't remember," the man said, cutting me off. He pushed my foot off him, and stood up. He stood about three inches above me, causing me to tilt my head up a bit just to look at him.

"Why would I remember you? I've never met you before now." I said, holding my pistol tightly, with those bullets still in the barrel. "Tell me who you are now!"

"I'll tell you when you're smart enough to figure it out, 'kay?"

"And how will I know when that is?" I crossed my arms, annoyed. This guy had a real talent for being a smart ass.

"When you can get me out of here."

"Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

"Obviously, only one of us can get out of here alive cuz of those Boneys; and if you want to know who I am _soo _badly, _you _will get _me_ out of here," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Like hell I'm gonna save your ass." I started to walk away from the guy, and hopefully towards some kind of exit. "You're probably just talkin' shit anyway."

"Sure I am, whatever you say, Cynthia." I stopped dead in my tracks. He chuckled, and sat on the ground, against a wall. How did he know my name? Did he _really_ know me?

_If he's from your past, you better find out_. The voice in my head chimed in. I kinda hit myself in the head, just to get it to shut up.

"You okay over there?" The man asked. I just flipped him the bird, and kept walking. "Geez, not much of a talker. What do you expect from someone who's half dead, though?" I almost tripped, and fell flat on my ass.

"How the hell.." I muttered. I looked back at him; he was just sitting against the wall, arms and legs crossed, looking comfortable as he would in his own home. "How-"

"Like I said," he yelled, "Get me out, and I'll tell you everything." I walked back over to him, he watching my every move.

"Fine," I grumbled. I stood in front of him, arms crossed, my patience exasperated. "What do you want me to do?"

"I've said it like, three times already: get me outta here."

"Twice," I muttered.

"Whatever, three times now, happy?" The man got up, and leaned against the wall, looking up. "Find a way out, or use yourself as Boney bait. Your choice."

I looked around, and only saw concrete. I started walking along the walls, scoping out every nook, cranny, crack, anything to find a way outside, without having to fight off Boneys.

"Ya know, this _used_ to be a storage place for food," he said.

"So?"

"What happens to food if it isn't kept cold?"

"It rots, stupid." I rolled my eyes.

"And?" I looked back, and he was motioning something with his arms, like he was expecting some kind of epiphany.

"And what?"

"Geez, and _I'm_ stupid." I cursed under my breath, trying to figure out what the hell he's talking about. Rotten food in a storage center... then I finally got it. I slapped my hand against my face, and dragged it down until it fell off my chin, facepalming myself.

"Ventilation," I muttered. I started looking near the ceiling on every wall to find some kind of vent that was used for cooling. Finally, I was able to find one. However, like usual, it was impossible to get to. The thing was a good six inches above my arm's reach. "Dammit."

"Find anything yet, smartie pants," the man yelled from across the huge storage area. I heard his footsteps get louder, and closer.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" I said, pausing after every word from jumping to reach the vent grate.

"I see you finally made that connection, Cynth."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever you want, Cynth." I groaned, and rubbed my temples.

I started to pace back and forth, trying to figure out a plan to reach that grate. I thought about having the man get it, but he won't lift a damn finger. I thought about finding a box or something to stand on, but this place was totally empty. Then I got an idea, and grinned like the devil.

"Get on your knees." I said, grinning.

"What?" The man said, stunned.

"You heard what I said, bitch," I said, pointing down. He slowly got down on all fours, staring at me like I was a Boney myself.

"What the hell are you thinking about," he half yelled, half questioned me.

"My plan to get us out." I said. I climbed onto his back, using it as a step stool. He let out a groan, and his back made a small U-shape from the sudden weight gain. "Your back better not break, or else this plan goes down the shitter."

"You _really_ like cursing, don't you?"

"When you're one of the last humans on Earth, 'gosh darn it' and 'gee willikers' just don't fit the situation." I smirked as he rolled his eyes, looking down, trying to support me as I purposely dilly-dallied.

"You almost done up there?"

"Oh, calm down, you pansy." I said, pulling on the vent. It was just big enough for me to fit into, but I didn't know about Mystery Man, here.

After pulling on this thing, and almost falling off my pack-laky numerous times, the rusted bolts and deteriorating metal broke loose, and gave way to my strength; giving us an exit.

"Aha!" I laughed triumphantly. I started to crawl into the air ducts, but _someone_ grabbed my ankle.

"Where do you think you're going?" The man asked.

"I'm going to find the person I got kidnapped for." I shook my ankle free, scurrying away. I soon heard the clanks of expanding metal. "Dear Lord, are you seriously following me?"

"You're getting me out, remember?" I slammed my forehead against one of the walls of the duct. "Ouch, why'd you do that?"

"Cuz you're a damn nuisance."

"Now, that's not a nice name to call your elder."

"How do you figure?" I said, crawling away from him, just to be followed.

"Well, it's simple math. You're twenty, and I'm twenty-one, twenty two in about two weeks, I think. You'll be twenty-one in October, correct?"

"How the hell do you know how old I am?" I looked back at him, seriously freaked.

"Cuz I'm your brother, dumb ass."

* * *

**Author's Note: OHH MY GOOSSHH, I AM SOO SORRY! I tried to make this chapter worth the wait, but I think I failed you all ;_; State-wide testing started last week, and won't be over until this coming Thursday XP And I really didn't have any ideas until recently. I guess a break was needed to get some good ideas flowing, which they are :) I'll most likely update once a week for a while, starting after testing ends. I promise!**

**~ Nicole**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I clocked this guy so hard in the jaw, it would've fallen off if he was still talking. His face slammed into the side of the duct, breaking his nose. He cursed at me loud enough to get the Boneys from the outside stirring. I started crawling through the duct, faster than before, leaving this delusional man behind me. I heard the cement door slam open, followed by the screaming and moaning of Boneys.

I looked back at the man, and saw that he was fighting off Boneys from crawling into the vent, blood leaking down his face, staining his clothes, which just drove the Boneys' hunger that much more.

_You know the right thing to do, Cynthia._ The little voice said.

_Why? He's an insane lunatic!_

_If he was insane, how would he know all those things about you? You know that what he said _must _be true. _I really thought about what my conscience was telling me. How else would he know about me? Especially with those _exact_ details.

I groaned, crawled back over to my self-proclaimed "brother" and pulled him away from the opening of the vent. I shot of the last two bullets, hitting about four or five Boneys. I used the handle of the pistol to push some away, while kicking and punching at others. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one moving closer to bite me. I kicked it away, but a closer one dug it's claws into my calf, then bit me.

"Dammit!" I yelled. I tried kicking the Boney away, but it started pulling me towards the mass. I felt arms wrap under and around my shoulders, pulling me back. My "brother" was able to pull me away from the Boneys hard enough to throw me behind him; too hard. The Boney ripped a good bite out of my calf muscle, about a quarter of a pound of my flesh was now a snack. I crawled backwards, and got a good look at my leg. There was no way I could get around with this. All it was was a huge bite mark that didn't bleed. I could walk it off.

"Go!" My "brother" yelled, kinda pushing me back with his foot.

"What about you?"

"Dammit, Cynthia! Go!" He was kicking and punching the remaining Boneys away, trying to protect me. I grabbed at the collar of his jacket, and tried to pull him back. His pants were hanging on by threads, and his shoes were completely turned to just scraps of fabric and rubber.

As I was pulling him back, his foot must've hit a hidden latch that brought out a spare vent. It locked when it closed the space between the Boneys and my "brother."

"Why didn't you run, stupid," he asked me.

"Because I need to know how you think you're my brother."

"Why on Earth do you-" The Boneys started banging and chewing on the new vent, trying to break through it. We both jumped out of our skins, and crawled deeper into the ventilation system as fast as we could. We finally made it to where the sounds of the Boneys was quieted to just about nothing. All that was heard was our breathing, and the occasional bend of metal ducts. All was quiet.

"What's your name and how do you assume to be my brother?" I asked.

"Half-brother," he corrected me.

"What?"

"My name is Derek, and technically, I'm your half brother."

"How?"

"Well, our dad was about three years older than your mother. Your mom was with our dad after my mom left our dad for getting her pregnant. Eventually, when you were a few months old, I was a toddler. My mom abandoned me, and left me with Dad. You just don't remember me because after your immunity came along, they took me away from you in fear of me being 'possessed by Satan.'" Derek said, using air quotes. I crossed my arms, looking down.

"Dad was a real perv, huh?" I chuckled.

"I guess, but he actually stuck around as much as our moms would let him," he said. "And he saved your life."

"Yeah, he did," I muttered. "But he killed _my_ mother in the process."

"To save her from the plague, Cynthia. It was the best solution." I looked down. I knew this was true, and I know that still. She was still my mother, though.

"Well, I still don't like the idea of it."

"And that's your opinion, which you're entitled to have. Now, we need to find a way out of here."

"We just look for a draft, and follow. It's an easy way out," I said. I started feeling around in the dark for a breeze, but found nothing.

"What were you doing out in the open, where the Boneys saw you?"

"I was looking for someone," I muttered, painfully reminded of Ryder.

_Ryder._ That asshole is the reason I'm stuck in this mess. The minute I find him, I swear, I'm gonna break his legs.

"Who?"

"My friend's brother."

"Is your friend out there looking, too?" I gave up on my search for any kind of exit, and leaned against the nearest wall.

"No, she's too young."

"How old is she?"

"Five."

"Five? How did you befriend a five year-old?"

"Her brother stalked me, attempted to steal my stuff, and helped me get glass out of my hand."

"Geez, that's a complicated relationship."

"Indeed it is, Derek, indeed it is."

* * *

**Author's Note: UGGHH TOO MUCH SCHOOL**

**RKLHGOWQJFPOWEUFOEIWHFIUQ'RL;F,SDF;Oal/fj**

**Okay, so now that I got that out of my system, I'm sorry this is so short, but the next one will be longer. I promise!**

**~ Nicole**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

It was weird, talking to my new brother. It felt wrong, like he wasn't supposed to exist. I felt that weird connection with him, similar to the one with Ryder, but more... caring than intense. I couldn't handle thinking about it for long.

"Let's go find a way out," I said. I started crawling forward, feeling for any sort of draft.

"What makes you think we'll just magically find a draft? Luck hasn't been on the human race's side, lately." I rolled my eyes and mocked him.

"We'll just have to look and feel hard enough."

Sadly, luck didn't return. We must've spent hours looking for a way out in the stupid ducts. It was getting more stuffy and hot with every move we made. I was getting claustrophobic by just crawling through these passages with Derek, never mind the ideas of us never getting out setting in. Eventually, I sat down and gave up.

"I'm done, Derek." I muttered. I slumped myself against the side of the duct. "I'm ready to face fate, and die already."

"What the hell, Cynthia?" Derek yelled. "What about that guy you're looking for?"

"He can go to hell for what he's gotten me into."

"What about the human race? We need to survive."

"I'm not human, remember? I'm a dirty mutant." I got him there. An awkward silence followed. Derek bowed his head in disappointment.

"What about the little girl? You promised her you'd find her brother. Are you just going to let her die without knowing? I'm disappointed, no, _ashamed_ of you, Cynthia." My head snapped up. If I was sure about one thing, it was that I would never let Lori down. I grabbed the collar of Derek's shirt, and pulled him about a half inch from my face. I could smell the sweat on him.

"Listen, don't you _dare_ talk about Lori like that! Granted, Ryder's a dumbass, but I will _never_ let Lori down!" I threw him against the wall, and started crawling again. The adrenaline rushing through my veins was the only thing pushing my aching muscles forward. I heard Derek laughing behind me. 'What are you so happy about?"

"I know how to drive you now! Just tell you I hate your attitude," he said. I growled at him, and kept moving. So this is what having a brother was like: annoying as hell. Gotta love it, right? Wrong.

After another few hours of looking for a way out, we sat down for a rest. I looked around at the endless pathways, all inter connecting. My eyes were red, swollen, and tired. It must've been at least a day without sleep. I yawned, and leaned against the duct, feeling for a draft.

"Cynthia, I think I found something." I looked over for Derek, and saw him picking at a seem. He was officially crazy.

"What are you doing?"

"This is a weak seem. If I can pick it away, maybe we can get out of the duct, and into the building, maybe outside." I criticized him, called him nuts, the whole thing. Suddenly, the whole panel of metal fell back with a thud. A blinding light hit our eyes, making us cringe back like vampires. The warmth on my skin felt so good, it was the most pleasurable thing I had felt in years. I crawled out, still blinded, and felt concrete on my palms and knees. I opened my eyes slightly, adjusting to the light.

We were outside. My brother had actually saved us! We hugged for the first time, almost crying. However, our happy ending was cut short. The groaning of a mob of Fleshies was dangerously close. We stood up, and sprinted as fast as we could towards the woods. We climbed up trees, over hills, and through valleys. The groaning slowly distanced itself from us, and we were able to break behind a boulder for a few minutes. As we got our breaths back, a familiar smell struck my nose.

It smelt like a cesspool. The airport! I grabbed Derek's arm, and bolted towards the polluted water. I quickly saw it as a brown blur, and saw R's plane. By this time, Derek was being dragged behind, cursing me out and calling me crazy. I ran around to the front of R's jet, and almost cried.

The door was ripped open, and strips of metal were torn and bitten from the side of the plane. The windows were all shattered, if they were even still there. I slowly walked up the stairs, into the trashed cockpit. The seats were mangled, and the panel board was destroyed. The seats were worse. All of R's memorabilia from the city was on the floor, demolished. The mini fridge wasn't even in one piece, and shattered bottles of Coca-Cola and Bud-Light were everywhere. Tears were running down my face with each new picture of destruction. Dark red blood was splattered on the walls and what was left of the seats. It was too thick to be human, so I assume R had a battle royal with the Boneys.

"What the hell..." I heard Derek say.

"R... and Julie.. and Lo-" I couldn't say her name without choking. I collapsed, and cried for the first real time since I was quarantined. My stomach hurt from how hard I was bawling. I felt Derek pick me up, and bring me outside the ruined jet. He made it into the airport, where nothing was living. No humans, no Boneys, no Fleshies. He sat my pathetic self down in the food court, and rubbed my back. No one said anything.

"Cynth-"

"Be quiet." I said. "This is it. I'm done _now_."

"Don't talk like that, Cynthia. You don't know if they're gone."

"Where else would they be?" I snapped. I was so full of rage, I smashed an old, moldy martini glass on the counter. "They're gone, Derek!"

Suddenly, we heard a huge bang. A set of metal doors from across the room fell down. A mass mob of Fleshies were standing behind them, lead by R's friends from the first meet. They slowly marched across the room, and halted before us. They didn't seem as... dead as they did before. Their eyes gained some color back, as did their skin. They walked smoother as well.

"What's going on?" Derek asked. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"Healing... We found.. the cure," the leader said. He walked over to Derek and myself.

"You know R, don't you?" I asked. He nodded, and held out his hand.

"M," he said, as in the letter M. I guess that's what his before name started with. I took shook his hand.

"Cynthia; and that's my bone head brother, Derek." M chuckled, something I've never seen before. "Where is R? And Julie? And Lori?" I said Lori's name with nore desperation than usual.

"City... R started the cure with Julie... The little girl is with Nora..." My heart skipped a beat. I smiled so big, it felt like my face was ripping open.

Lori was in the city. She was okay.

"There was a bigger kid..." M continued. "Little girl loves him..." I looked at him in disbelief.

"God Damn Ryder Maas!" I slammed my fist on the table. Derek and M jumped out of their skins.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**OH MY GOD I AM SOO SOO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOO SORRY!**

**As I've said before, I've been loosing my inspiration to write ;-; But I'm getting it back! I went through a rough patch when I left ^^;;; I'll do my best to update as regularly as I can, I promise!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Ryder Maas?" Derek asked.

"The kid I'm looking for. That God damn idiot!" Derek looked like he had just seen a ghost, and M was paler than any other Fleshy I've ever seen. "I can't believe he got to the city before I found him."

"That's because you met me," Derek said with a stupid grin on his face.

"Shut up."

"We better get going, then. I don't to delay his ass kicking." I chuckled. Maybe Derek _was_ related to me. We both loved a good can of "Whoop-Ass."

"How far are we away from the city?" I asked M.

"A few miles... Borrow R's car," he said.

"Zombies have cars?" Derek questioned.

"R does," he said. I thanked him and ran to the air field. After a few minutes of running, I finally found his car. But, there was no gas.

"Damn," I muttered, kicking the tire. "No gas."

"Here," Derek said. He grabbed a piece of peeling shrapnel from a jet, and siphoned a near by car out of it's gas. He used a stranded curved piece of bumper to hold the gas, and poured it into the tank. Derek took about twenty minutes to siphon about five or six cars to give us a full tank of gas.

"I didn't know you knew how to steal gas," I said

"I'm good with cars," he replied. We jumped into _my_ new car, and sped off to the city at a solid 90 m/h.

* * *

It took us three minutes to get to the city, draining all of our stolen gas. There was a _huge_ cement wall surrounding the city, to keep out the infection. Too bad it didn't account for zombie-human hybrids and a complicated up love story. Derek and I got out of the car, and ran to the wall. I looked for things to climb over it with, but it was a smoothed over vertical plane of rock. I looked around, and saw that my brother was gone.

"Derek?" I asked to myself. "Hello?"

"Cynthia! Over here!" I followed his voice, and found him behind a chain link fence part of the wall.

"How did you-"

"There's a hole right under the fence! I'd assume people used it to raid out there." He pointed to a small opening at the bottom of the fence where it was bent upwards, making a small entrance. I couldn't have thanked this epidemic more for emaciating me, because I slipped under it without a problem.

We acted casual as we slipped into the main stream of healthy person traffic. I looked for any signs of R or Julie, or even Lori and Ryder. We didn't see any of them, so we ended up straying away from the main flow of traffic.

We looked for any of them until the sun started to set. We walked down some lightly lit street, and saw two men standing outside. They were talking about someone, but I couldn't tell who from being a good ten yards away from them, at least. Suddenly, a college-looking aged guy came out of the bar, and clocked both of them so hard they made imprints in the metal of the building. I ran over to stop what I though was a drunken fight, to only realize that the college kid was what could be considered my own cousin by disease.

"R!" I yelled. He looked at me, and ran into the darkness. I went after him, but Derek called me into the bar. As I passed the men, it was clear that they were close to death with broken skulls and spines, blood leaking from both places into mixed puddles.

Inside the bar, I saw a drunken Julie and Nora, stumbling all over the place, looking for R.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" I asked. Derek and I pulled the two of them up and onto the bar stools they had fallen off of, and asked for two black large coffees. After making them chug as much as their mouths could handle, we started questioning what the hell they were thinking.

"We wanted to relax since we got back. Plus, R was helping us celebrate the cure!" Nora yelled happily. I rubbed my temples and tried to calm myself down. I wanted to slap them so hard.

"Derek, please get them sober, and get some answers for me." I walked outside the pub and paced along the sidewalk. This is the only way I could've stopped myself from killing both of them. With each step, I thought about where Lori and Ryder could be. Maybe Lori was with Julie's family, thinking she was a stranded little girl. Ryder could be hiding with Lori, too. Maybe they both were living happily here without my help. If that was the case, then why should I look for them? If they're here, they're safe.

_You have a promise to keep to Lori, you liar._

Of course my conscience hates me. It always has. Maybe it was because of the distorted brain I have. Anyway, it had a point. I did have to keep my promise to Lori. I sat beneath a light post, and wracked my brain. Before I could think of anything, a plethora of heavy loaded soldiers knocked me off my feet. Derek ran outside with a more sober Julie and Nora. The color from Julie's face drained.

"Where's R," she asked.

"Well, I'm assuming he killed those drunks guys for saying something, and then he ran. I tried to catch up before I went to get your asses off the floor, but he was too fast."

"Crap!" Julie yelled. She ran into the darkness, following the soldiers. I'd assume she'd gone to find R before he'd eat someone. Nora looked at her watch, and she looked like she would have an aneurism.

"I gotta go!" She yelled.

"Why?" Derek asked, naturally being curious.

"I left Lori alone-" I grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her an inch from my face.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" I screamed. "Leaving a five year old girl alone during the apocalypse to get wasted?" Her face was pale white.

"Her brother told me to leave them alone!" My face flushed.

"Where is Lori?" Nora told me her address, and I booked it towards her house.

Knowing where Lori was gave me an adrenaline rush, never mind escaping from the outside world. The fact that I had a brother, there was a cure rushing over the area, and that I had found where my family-

_They aren't your family, Cynthia. Your family is dead. Derek isn't your real family. If he was, you would've found Lori before now. Family helps family, and all he did was drag you down._

I almost tripped when this voice popped into my head again. It sounded vaguely familiar. I don't know why I let it influence me, but it always seemed to. I guess it was right. Building relationships just ends in heartbreak, like it did with Ryder right before he kicked me out of Lori's life.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

I ran as fast as I could to find them, faster than I ever had before. A piercing siren started booming. Everyone around me started panicking, and crawling into and hiding spot they could. A mass of soldiers tried to calm the crowd, explaining the situation.

"... a break in the wall has occurred, and an officer has already been bitten. Please report to your own home's emergency bunker until reported otherwise," a soldier yelled into a megaphone. My blood ran cold. They know. Whether it was about me, or R, I didn't. Nonetheless, I was in trouble. The soldiers started finding pulses of the people around them, checking for the plague. People started fighting back, throwing punches and kicks. More people were being restrained than calmly tested. A callused hand grabbed my wrist, and went to take my pulse.

"Get off me!" I screamed. I felt another soldier grab me, and they tried to feel a pulse. Suddenly, all went quiet. The commotion was stopped, and everyone was staring at me.

"She has no pulse," the soldier said. He looked into my eyes, and saw the gray. The soldiers saw my bitten up calfs, and eventually tore open my sleeves and pulled up my shirt to find the dozens of bite and scratch marks. "Someone get me a gun!"

"Not in this life!" I yelled. I elbowed both guards, and took off sprinting. I sped down dozens of allies, crawled up and down millions of fire escapes, and even jumped into a sewer or two to lose them. Finally, I found the apartment.

It was probably the biggest in the city, since it belonged to Julie and Nora and them. Made of moss and vine covered bricks, it looked safe to me. I climbed the fire escape on the back of the building, and crawled through a window. I quietly stepped around the scattered clothes and broken pottery pieces and such around the floor, not wanting to make my presence known. I was found out. My identity as a regular woman was gone. I was back to that quarantined little girl. The idea stung my eyes. Tanks and sirens were all around the building. A child was crying from a few rooms over.

"Lori," I said under my breath. I ran into the dining room, flipping chairs over and throwing off table cloths. There was a mahogany hutch in the back of the room. I ripped off the golden lock, and threw the doors open. There sat a small girl, holding her stuffed Mr. Peppers. "Lori!"

I wrapped my arms around her and her bear, squeezing her as hard as I could. We both were sobbing, but they were happy tears. So happy, I felt as though I would throw up. I picked her up, and brought her to Julie's bedroom. We sat down behind her bed, away from any windows.

"Lori, sweetie, are you okay? Have Julie and Nora and R been okay since you left the plane?" She nodded, wiping her tears.

"They l-left me and Ryder alone earlier. T-Then, Ryder got pulled out f-for the army thing, and I hid in the c-cabinet," she said, chocking through tears. I hugged her close, and kissed her head. "D-did you ever f-find your brother?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, I did. His name is Derek. He's really nice, and he's with Julie and Nora right now, clearing things up and trying to get things under control." Lori nodded, smiling a little. "Where did they take Ryder?"

"He w-went to this big underground p-place, with Julie's dad," she said. "He m-misses you, a lot." I blushed.

"No, he doesn't," I muttered. Lori nodded.

"He's had dreams ab-bout you, and he cries about you," my face was as red as it could've been.

"Lori, I want you to be a big girl, okay?" Lori nodded. "I need you to stay hidden here until Julie, Nora, Ryder, or me comes back. Don't trust anyone else, okay?

"Ok-kay," she agreed. I hid her in the very back of Julie's closet with Mr. Peppers.

"Keep Mr. Peppers safe," I said, smiling. She smiled back, and held her bear close to her heart. I kissed her head, and shut the closet door, blinds opened just enough for her to see out of.

I ran out of the apartment, keeping in the shadows. On a huge screen across the street from the apartment, my face was blown up with the word "WANTED" underneath. They knew who I was. Then, I saw R's face appear next to mine. This wasn't good, they knew about both of us.

I saw a group of soldiers coming closer to the apartment. I hid behind a dumpster, and waited for them to leave. Sadly, they walked right down that alley. Each of the 12 or so checked around them, and walked back to the main street. I followed about twenty feet behind them, jumping from fire escape to fire escape. Then, I followed them through underground passages, and into the main artillery.

Hiding in the shadows, solders were everywhere. I saw a larger, bald, middle-aged man talking to Nora. That must've been Julie's dad. Then, out of no where, Nora pulled a pistol to his head. I saw Nora mouth something about hurting R. Maybe he tried to kill him, I don't know. Anyway, I looked at each soldier for a special scar. I didn't see anyone who even resembled Ryder. I slid against the wall, near a pillar. A hand covered my mouth, and another pulled me behind the pillar.

I screamed, but the glove muffled my cries. He pushed me against the wall. I looked at his soot covered face, and saw a scar from the corner of his lips reaching behind his ear. His hand left my mouth, and slid to his side. His soft, brown eyes looking straight into mine. He doubled over as my fist plunged into his stomach.

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I covered my mouth, realizing how loud I was. I started yelling at him in a whisper, while pounding on his helmet covered head. "Do you know how much of a sick bastard you are?"

"Cynth, listen-"

"No, _you _listen. You kick me out of Lori's life, just to have _me_ try to find your sorry ass? _Then_ you land me in Boney jail where I almost died for real! All for you!"

"Cynthia, let me explain. I was a dick, I know. I should have never kicked you out. It tore me to pieces, more than Lori. I just wanted to protect her, and I realized that as soon as you left." I crossed my arms and he stood back up.

"Then why didn't you try to find me?"

"I did, Cynthia. Then those Boneys got me. I was able to fight them off, and then I met Julie and R. I almost killed the poor guy, but nonetheless, they brought me back to Lori. They were escaping the Boneys too, from the airport."

"I know, I was there. I found the ruined jet." Ryder seemed confused.

"We must've just missed each other, then." I nodded, but got focused on the real subject.

"I don't think I could ever trust you again, Ryder Maas."

"I know, you probably hate me. Cynthia, please, I need you."

"Sure you do. You need me enough to force me to leave," my eyes started to get cloudy. "You ditched me when I told you my biggest secret, Ryder! You were the first person who I _ever_ opened up to since I was kicked out of my own family!"

"Cynthia-"

"Don't start! Do you get that-" My ranting was interrupted by Ryder's lips crashing against mine.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

My body froze, and my mind played back all of our shared memories, from when we met to when I found him again.

_You'd best not be a smart-ass._

**_You can stay, girlie._**

_Its not like I _wanted_ this._

**_Are these bites? From the Fleshies?_**

_Ryder?_

**_Now get your bag and go._**

_You son of a bitch!_

**_I should have never kicked you out. It tore me to pieces._**

**_It tore me to pieces._**

Images of the two of us flooded my mind, tearing everything I believed apart. I stood there, static, and let him kiss me. I didn't know which instinct to trust: my loving one to kiss him back, or my survival one to kick his gut. Before I could decide, he pulled away. His face was bright red, as was mine. His soft eyes were filled of regret of the past.

"You don't realize how much I hate myself for putting you through what I did."

"I doubt it was much," I muttered. His soft demeanor quickly changed to frustrated.

"Do you understand what I just did? What that kiss meant?" Ryder's voice escalated. Soldiers were starting to question the noise. He looked around, and pulled me into a secluded closet-like room. Maybe it was a lounge room previously, but now it was a storage room of canned foods and ammunition. He quickly latched, and locked, the door. "Do you get it?"

"What if I don't?" I crossed my arms.

"Cynthia, please. Think about what that meant." His frustration melted into pleading. He held my tiny wrists in his callused hands. "Please."

"Well, Ryder," I tore my hands away from him. "What if I _don't_ want to know what it meant? Ever think of that? What if I'm scared to know?" My eyes stung again.

"Why would you be scared to know that I'm in God damn love with you?"

"Because the last time I trusted you, you kicked me to the curb!" My voice cracked on the last few words, tears overflowing onto my cheeks. Ryder advanced towards me, but I pushed him away. He guarded the door. I admit, he looked professional with his camo soldier get-up, with his pistol and machine gun at his sides.

"Cynthia, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to say?" I wiped my face with my shirt, trying not to look at him.

"Kill me so I can be done with this life," I said. This was the first time anyone had heard a suicidal thought come from me. Ryder looked astonished, then severely frightened. He ran up to me, and grabbed me around my waist. I tried to push him off, but his grip wouldn't loosen, only tighten.

"Don't you _dare_ say anything like that again, you hear me Cynthia Hatcher?" Ryder chocked out. I felt warm drops flowing down my shoulder. He was crying too, right into my shoulder. I'd try to comfort him, but his height would only let my tip toes touch the ground. I squirmed out of his grip, and looked at him.

"Okay, prove to me that you really care."

"I love you, Cynthia - so much - and I don't see my life without you," he pulled me against him again, but smoother and gentler. This time, my body melded perfectly with his: his nose touching my forehead, my chest to his, my arms slowly wrapping around his neck like a snake, his arms acting like Velcro around me, our lips less than an inch apart. I looked up at his eyes. They were as big and brown as usual, but bloodshot as well. "Please, _please_ forgive me."

"... Ryder," I said, feeling his tears stream down his cheeks to mine. "I can't trust you. Not after what happened at your apartment, no matter how much I want to." My own tears streamed down my face now. I held in the sobs so I could just talk normally. "You put me through what I went through as a child. You _quarantined_ me." Ryder shook his head against mine, our bangs getting tangled and intertwined.

"No, Cynthia. You can't do this. It was one mistake," he said, chocking out between sobs.

"I'm sorry, Ryder." I finally ended it. I pushed him away for the last time, and walked outside the door. Ryder collapsed to his knees. I couldn't hear him after a few feet.

I crawled under a few fences, and out a few windows to get to the outside. I was near a fountain. Above me was a balcony, and there I found Julie and R, ready to jump. Tanks, soldiers, and any kind of government law enforcement was surrounding that one building. Boneys were inside the Dome, biting, killing, and eating humans _and_ Fleshies. On the outskirts of the collection, they were fighting the Boneys _together_, something I though I'd never see. In an instant, a splash of water hit me. R and Julie had jumped. Government personnel rushed to the couple, and I booked it. Tearing through the crowds, hiding my face, I ran towards the end of the Dome. My sight was blurring because of the crying.

_Why did I turn him down? _I asked myself.

_Because you're too scared to let anyone in._ The voice said, and it was right. Nothing held me back from loving Ryder, except myself. Look at what he's done to me, making me talk about love. It's irrational in a time like this. Love shouldn't be a priority, just to kill the plague and-

_Join together._ It said. It was right again. I stopped running, and though about what it had to say. _You can't join together by being alone, Cynthia. You let Lori in, why not her brother?_

"I hate my life," I muttered. I turned on my heel, and raced back to the armory. Before I could sneak in, masses of soldiers hustled out to the throng of Boneys. It was more than I've ever seen before. People were turning straight into Boneys when bit, or even scratched. Julie's father was no where to be found.

I climbed the fire escape ladder, looking over the crowd for my scarred-face reason. I didn't see him, and started to panic. Jumping down, I pushed through the mass of people and undead. I felt scratches of claws and rifle butts against my arms, sides, legs, everything. From my left, I heard someone scream. That was Ryder's scream, for sure. I bolted towards him, to see a Boney on top of him. The only restraint from it biting his jugular out was Ryder's gun against it's chest and shoulders. I grabbed the Boney's head, and pulled it off Ryder, smashing it's skull on the ground with my hands and foot.

"Get outta here," he yelled, sweat and blood dripping off his face. I smirked.

"You really think I'm in danger?" I stole his pistol, and started shooting two, three, four Boneys with each bullet. This went on for hours.

Someone on our left shot the last Boney by sun down. Everyone was finished, ready to join the undead themselves, just for a rest. The mixed crowd of curing Fleshies and humans all fell back into the main building. In the middle, there stood Julie, Nora, M, and a very alive R. Julie's dad's picture was on the large screen, along with other fallen soldiers. Julie's face as tear stained, and R had her in his own tight embrace.

They gave a well though of speech about the cure, and how it was working. Many got excited about the turn of a new era, one without a seemingly doomed end. Others were still weary about trusting Fleshies. I was called up to stand with the four.

I said nothing, but the decorated soldier spoke about my actions seen through the eyes of both humans and the undead. Everyone had questions about my past, and how I had survived the bites. I sighed, and swallowed my pride as I approached the mic and stand.

"My name is Cynthia Hatcher, and I'm the hybrid."

**FIN**


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Cynthia!" Derek screamed. He rushed into my room, and tore the blankets off me. I curled up, wanting the heat to return. "Rise and shine, sweetheart. 25 is a big year." I groaned. I looked to my right, and instantly woke up.

"Where's Ryder?" I shot up, and looked around the bedroom. Derek smirked, and started walking away.

"I told you to get up, Cynth." I rolled my eyes. Every year, he did this. He promised he wouldn't do it again. I slumped onto the floor, and crawled over to my closet. Too tired to help myself, I used the door handle as support to pull myself off he floor. The door wouldn't open. Of course, he padlocked it.

"That bastard," I muttered. I walked down the hall, and into the rather large apartment's center of activity.

The dinning room was to my left, kitchen to my right, family room behind both. Each room was connected by an open doorway. Scouting each room, no signs of anyone was stood out to me. I heard a window slam shut from the bedroom, and ran to see what made the noise. On the bed was a small, squishy package. There was a note taped onto it that read, "_Meet me where you almost killed me._" There was no signature. Of course, I recognized the handwriting, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"That boy will be the death of me," I said to myself. I opened the package, and almost stopped breathing. Inside was a set of clothes, a flannel plaid shirt with jean shorts, and a denim jacket. Next to the bed was a set of combat boots. I shook my head, and changed quickly.

Everything flooded back to me. These clothes, the note, and the silence. Usually, this place is bustling. Today, however, was different, never mind it being my 25th birthday. Ever since the cure spread, things got better, _fast_. In the last five years, less than 0.3% of the population on Earth has the plague in them. Wether they were stragglers, or they were recently infected by something, we don't know.

After explaining to the whole world over and over again about who I was, and who R and Julie were, the world accepted me. So far, I'm the only hybrid. That didn't stop me, though. We rebuilt half the _original_ city in three years. They focused on the forests and parks and such, making sure not to make the mistake of polluting the Earth all over again. This was a fresh start for everyone, and the complications that came with them.

I read the note again, and knew exactly where to go. I walked outside, and was greeted gracefully by beams of sunlight. The trees were beautifully in season, and so were the flowers. Children ran up and down the streets as I walked by them, saying hi. Pedestrians waved at me, smiling for once. I'm still getting used to this, even after five years. Two decades of isolation really takes a while to get over.

As I progressed, I left what was considered the Dome before. I knew this because there were little remnants of the wall. Before we left to spread the cure, we blew the concrete wall to smithereens, no longer afraid. Any remaining Boneys died off, or went into hiding. They haven't bothered us in a long while.

Less and less foliage was growing the further I walked. I knew where I was going, and I hoped I was wrong. Nevertheless, I moved on. I came across the ruins of a small airport. I saw R's old jet. It was still ruined, but I saw the lights from inside glow. Inside, I saw a small figure, a ten year old girl, playing records and discovering the more truthful past, before the epidemic. Lori was really into that stuff, so R had given her his jet, and everything in it from his journeys to the city as a Fleshie. Come to think of it, M had changed too. His real name was Marcus, and I've seen some romantic development between him and Nora. R never remembered his real name. Julie asked him if he wanted to start over, but he liked "R" as a name more than any other. He looks like a Roderick, I think.

I pressed on, feeling the cool breeze rush through my hair. I missed that feeling of being free. Eventually, I found the place. It may have taken most of the day, but I don't care. I walked down the sidewalk, kicking pebbles. I found the old house, even more over grown with plants. Clawing my way through the vines with my knife, I almost tripped on a moss covered bunker. The moss was disturbed, signifying someone went in there, and I knew exactly who.

Inside the bunker, I found everything I had left five years ago, in the exact same place. However, my journal was sitting in the middle of my work desk. I grabbed it, and started flipping through. I read entries about myself, the plague, and some about the people I've met. I almost jumped when I heard footsteps on the stairs.

"I can hear you," I smirked. The noise stopped, and I just smiled. Then, I felt a pointer finger poke the back of my head.

"You'd best not be a smart-ass," he said, chuckling. I giggled as he did, and turned to see Ryder. His smile just warmed my inner core. Those big brown eyes made me melt every time I saw them. He had grown an inch in the last few years, and his hair was still shaggy, it reached to the base of his neck again. I liked it like that. His scar curved near his lips, up and around his smile. "Do you remember?" I nodded.

"The first words we spoke to each other, in-"

"- The place you first tried to kill me," he said, finishing my sentence. We've been doing much of that lately. His arms snaked around my waist, and mine around his neck.

"Why'd you make me come here?" I muttered. This place gave me the creeps now.

"It's significant. It's where I first met my angel," he said, putting his forehead against mine, balancing my feet on top of his own. My face flushed.

"I am _not_ an angel, Ryder."

"Trust me, you're my angel. Anyway," he pulled out a small box from his back pocket. "Happy birthday, Cynthia." It was a small, ruby red velvet box, with a little silver bow on top. I wanted to shake it to hear what was inside, but I assumed it was fragile. When I opened it, I was amazed. It was a silver heart pendant. The heart was made out of the letters C and R. It was simple, but beautiful. The heart rested on a silver chain. I looked at Ryder, and he was giving me that age old grin. "You like it? Made it myself," he said, proudly.

"Ryder, I love it. It's beautiful," I replied. He took it, and put it around my neck.

"Just like you." I elbowed him in the stomach lightly, just as he clasped it.

"No, I'm not, Mr. Sappy." We both chuckled, and returned to our embrace. His face was an inch away from mine, but it felt like a mile.

I guess you could say things have smoothed out between Ryder and I over time. After traveling, he wouldn't stop bugging me about his _feelings_ and how he _loves_ me. I finally gave in after the umpteenth time he asked me for some time alone. That eventually led to a kiss, and now we're together. It was our two year marker about four months ago. It took me that long to trust him again, but it was so worth it.

Ryder couldn't take it anymore. He closed that gap between our lips, holding me close. His warmth morphed with mine, making it feel like we were standing in the sun. His hands wandered up and down my back, and my fingers combed through his hair. We stood like this for what feel like seconds, but was really almost an hour. He had me up on my desk, his hands a little lower than my waist, when his cell phone interrupted us. Ryder wanted to let it go to voicemail, but if it was a call, it must've been important.

"Hello," he asked into his phone. It was placed between his ear and his shoulder, keeping his hands on me. He chuckled into the phone as the other line talked. "Well, tell them to watch out. We don't need missing kids... Right... Who do you think? It's her birthday... Of course..." Suddenly, his face flushed red. "No! C'mon, you know we aren't like that... Whatever, just keep an eye on Lori. I don't want her too far away form the city yet... Exactly... 'Aite, see ya," he flipped his phone back, hanging it up.

"Who was that," I asked. Ryder shook his head.

"Just R. Lori was trying to sneak past the airport again," he said. Quickly, he started kissing my neck and right shoulder.

"Are you worried?" I was running my fingers through his hair, and he shook his head. "You're right, Lori listens to you." I pulled away from him, and looked straight into his eyes, his soul.

"As long as I'm with you, all will be well." Ryder said. I smiled, and kissed his forehead. I jumped off the desk, and walked up the stairs. "Where ya' going?"

"Where do you think?" I giggled, and headed towards the airport again. Ryder caught up with me, and gingerly held my hand in his own tough one.

We had always thought about what the future would be like, but we never thought it would end this happily.

**_The End_**

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Oh my goodness, I can't believe I just finished my first story! It feels great knowing that all of you pushed me and persuaded me to keep writing, especially through the rough loss of inspiration to write. All of my readers are in my debt, and I will happily pay that off :) I love you guys!**

**~ Nicole **


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